preparations to carry out this previous instructions the moment your troops return to that place. The troops in the field will be left under command of the senior officer, with instructions, if Shreveport has been taken and a junction formed with General Steele, to learn General, Steele wit all of General Smith's troops, if necessary, and the navy to hold the line of Red River. If, when this is received, you shall have failed to accomplish the object of your companies by securing Red River to Shreveport, you will direct the officer left in command to see the gun-boat safety out of Red River as soon as possible, and then return all the troops rapidly to where they belong General Steele returning to and holding the line of the Arkansas. A copy of this dispatch will be sent to General Steele, via Little Rock, with instructions to communicate with you as early as possible.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS AND U. S. FORCE IN WEST LA. Numbers 43. Alexandria, La., April 27, 1864.

The advance of the army in its march from Grand Ecore to this place having been accompanied by indiscriminate marauding and incendiarism, disgraceful to the army of a civilized nation, and no clue having hitherto been found by which the guilty parties can be detached, a reward of $500 is hereby offered for such evidence as will convict the accused of incendiarism before a general court-martial to be paid to the person furnishing the evidence upon the conviction of the accused.

By ordered of Major-General Franklin:

WICKHAM HOFFMAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. 3rd DIV., 13TH ARMY CORPS, Numbers 34. Alexandria, La., April 27, 1864.

The undersigned hereby assumes command of the third Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, and announces no changes in the staff.

T. H. BRINGHURST,

Colonel, Commanding Division.

GENERAL ORDERS,] HDQRS. 3rd DIV., 13TH ARMY CORPS. Numbers 35. Alexandria, La., April 27, 1864.

The undersigned hereby reassumes command of this division, and announces the following-named officers on duty at headquarters; Captain Oscar Morh, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, acting assistant adjutant-general.

Captain G. A. North, assistant quartermaster, quartermaster.

Captain J. t. Haskell, commissary of subsistence, coming of subsistence.